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1 Florida State University Libraries Honors Theses The Division of Undergraduate Studies 2014 Development of an Emotional Task- Switch Paradigm to Explore Boldness and Inhibition-Disinhibition as Moderators of Task-Switch Performance colin bowyer Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact

2 THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT OF AN EMOTIONAL TASK-SWITCH PARADIGM TO EXPLORE BOLDNESS AND INHIBITION-DISINHIBITION AS MODERATORS OF TASK-SWITCH PERFORMANCE By COLIN BOWYER A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: Fall, 2014

3 The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Colin B. Bowyer defended on April 21, Dr. Walter R. Boot Thesis Director Dr. Chris J. Patrick Committee Member Dr. Margaret Elizabeth Stroupe Outside Committee Member

4 Abstract: Adaptive flexibility is a measure of a person s aptitude for overall success in the workplace. Individuals with strong adaptive flexibility display a tolerance for uncertainty, a strong capacity for learning new skills, an aptitude for understanding and dealing with complicated social scenarios, and an aptitude for dealing with complex situations. While one s level of adaptive flexibility is a strong predictor of good workplace performance, the construct is difficult to measure. Boldness and Disinhibition, however, have strong similarities to dimensions expressed in the operationalization of adaptive flexibility, and each can be measured fairly easily. Traitboldness reflects fearlessness, social dominance, and a tolerance for uncertainty; these traits correlate positively with dimensions of adaptive flexibility. Trait-disinhibtion reflects a propensity towards irresponsibility and reckless-impulsive behavior, placing individuals high in disinhibition at the lower end of the adaptive flexibility spectrum The current study sought to develop a new measure of adaptive flexibility based on a classic task-switch paradigm to further explore the relationship between flexible thinking and boldness/disinhibition. The aim was to develop a task-switch paradigm that would involve an emotional component, and we examined performance on this novel paradigm to a more traditional task-switch paradigm. The novel paradigm was validated in that it did produce a substantial switch cost. Furthermore the paradigm showed internal reliability and significant main effects for valence. In sum, the novel paradigm developed appears to be appropriate for planned studies of individual difference that influence flexible thinking (specifically, flexibility under stressful situations, i.e., threat of shock).

5 Introduction Adaptive Flexibility: Adaptive flexibility is a multidimensional construct that indexes an individual s ability to perform in an ever-changing workplace. A construct of individual capacity for proficiency was proposed by Campbell et al.(1993) with eight unique job-proficiency related dimensions: taskspecific proficiency, non-specific task proficiency, written and oral communication, demonstrating effort, maintaining personal discipline, maintaining peer and team performance, supervision and leadership, and management/administration skill. Each category of this model was measured based on behavioral responses to different situations; for example, if an assemblyline manager at a car company were able to put together cars exceptionally quickly, but this same person could not keep his team members from incorrectly assembling several cars, this person would have a high level of task-specific proficiency and a low level of maintaining team performance. This initial construct modeled specific job performance very well, but it did not account for individual adaptability. In order to address the need for a new construct that did account for adaptability, Pulakos(2000) formulated eight new dimensions: creative problem solving, tolerance for uncertain and unpredictable work situations, ability to learn work tasks and procedures, interpersonal adaptability, cultural adaptability, physically oriented adaptability, coping with work stress, and handling crises and emergencies; thus creating the initial model for adaptive flexibility by modifying and adding to the initial construct of job-proficiency. These new categories managed to capture capacity for proficiency in one job while capturing resiliency to change and unfamiliar situations, creating the initial model for adaptive flexibility. In order to create a more generalizable model for adaptive flexibility, Pulakos(2000) compiled these indicators of adaptive flexibility by reviewing incidents from several different types of jobs in

6 several domains. These jobs ranged from military field positions to regular 9-5 desk jobs in an office. The concept of adaptive flexibility and executive function are related insofar as they both influence a person s ability to create novel solutions to complex situations. Executive function is a moderating factor in creative problem solving, and adaptive flexibility can be defined as a person s capacity for creative problem solving. The task-switch paradigm: The task-switch paradigm is a task commonly used to measure a person s executive function by first training a participant in two unique tasks with a similar format; for example, selecting whether a number is odd or even in one task and then selecting whether a number is higher or lower than five (Jeralsid,1927). The participant is told which rules to respond with based on a cue within the paradigm (e.g. a red vs. a blue background). The primary aim of the switch-task paradigm is to elicit a Switch Cost: an elevated response time when one must switch from one task condition (odd/even) to another (high/low).in addition to switch cost, accuracy and general reaction time can be assessed as supplemental behavioral variables (Monsell, 2003). The task-switching paradigm tests a person s adaptive flexibility both directly and indirectly. In order to perform well in the task-switching paradigm, the participant must successfully learn a novel task. Success in the task-switching paradigm is also linked with complex scenarios which we deal with on a daily basis; for example, playing action video-games, which requires the player to monitor several items at once and respond to complex cues, has been shown to have a direct effect on task-switching ability in a laboratory setting (Green, 2012). Talking on a cell

7 phone while driving also presents a person with similar demands to the task switch, since this act calls for a constant shifting of attention from the conversation on the phone to the act of drivingtwo very different tasks (Rubinstein, 2001). The role of task-switching towards success in complex situations should also play into success in complex social situations as well since one would have to respond to several specific emotional and culturally-specific cues. There has also been extensive work in finding the neural foundations of the task-switch paradigm. The task switch paradigm has been implicated in the activation of frontal and parietal areas by functional magnetic resonance imaging. The task-switch appears to activate these areas because the paradigm calls for active task-preparation; people who show greater activation in these areas tend to have a lower switch-cost, implying that they are better able to prepare for mental switch in proper stimulus-response associations (Ruge, 2013). These same brain-areas have also been implicated in impulse control; for example, people with ADHD show lowered activation in the prefrontal cortex and controlling areas in the parietal cortex, and these same people show deficits in emotion regulation, behavioral impulse control, and attentional impulse control (Arnsten, 2009). There has also been some debate over the contribution of general intelligence to overall switch-cost in the paradigm, but recent research has shown that the task-switch captures aptitude for problem solving in novel and complex situations, rather than a general intelligence factor (Yeniad, 2013). Inhibition-Disinhibition: The construct of inhibition-disinhibition has its roots in work by Krueger (1999) in which the co-morbidity of common mental disorders was undergirded by two latent factors:

8 internalizing, which captured covariance associated with mood and anxiety problems and externalizing, reflecting common variance in Antisocial Personality Disorder and substance abuse and dependence problems. Subsequent research by Krueger and colleagues to refine and operationalize externalizing in the self-report domain resulted in the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory. (ESI; Krueger et al., 2007) Factor analytic techniques revealed a bi-factor structure underlying variance in the ESI. A broad higher order factor reflecting traits of impulsivity and irresponsibility (general disinhibition or inhibition-disinhibition) captured common variance across all subscales of the ESI with two lower order factors (callous-aggression and substance use) explaining covariance in select subscales. Patrick et al.(2013) examined correlations between ESI scores and different disorders characterized by disinhibition (e.g. adult antisocial personality disorder, substance-abuse, and conduct disorder) in three separate samples: prisoners, adult twins, and a general adult population. In each sample, a strong correlation (r>0.5) was seen between ESI scores and externalizing disorders. Trait disinhibition has also been proven to mediate externalizing disorder symptoms and reduced P300 response, a physiological indicator of deficient self-control and deviancy (Yancey et al. 2013). There is also a correlation between inhibition-disinhibition and executive function. Individuals exhibiting greater externalizing symptoms tend to perform worse on tasks involving executive function like the Stroop task (Young et al, 2009). Boldness: Kramer et al. (2012) conceptualizes fear as a level of a person s defensive reactivity as measured by aversive startle potentiation. Defensive reactivity is of presumed importance to a person s defensive motivational system response to uncertain or aversive situations (Davis, 1992). Kramer et al. (2012) found that fear had a bipolar fear/fearlessness structure with related

9 sub-factors for each domain including: stimulation seeking, sociability, and distress. Boldness relates to this fear/fearlessness model in that it reflects fearless-dominance (Patrick et al., 2011). The construct of boldness closely follows Kramer et al. s (2012) conceptualization of fear/fearlessness in that it reflects a bipolar continuum with individuals at the high end exhibiting displaying fearlessness, tolerance of uncertainty, and stress immunity; while those at the low end tend to appear socially anxious, prone to stress reactivity, and relatively low in thrill/adventure seeking (Patrick, 2009). Aims of the current study: The current study seeks to develop an alternative version of the classic switch-cost task where affective cues are used instead of neutral cues. The goal is to create an affective switch-cost task that produces significant differences in reaction time. The second goal of this project is to create an affective task that influences participant reaction time using the affective content of the pictures as well. These factors should make it possible to use the task in future experiments involving individual difference characteristics like boldness and inhibition/disinhibition. Methods Participants: The first step of our study will be to pilot-test the novel task switch paradigm in-order to ensure that we will obtain robust switch-costs from our participant pool. 15 undergraduate psychology students will be offered course-credit to participate in this initial phase of the experiment.

10 Classic Task-Switch: The color/number task-switch paradigm will be used for the first part of this experiment. The participant will be cued to select whether a number (from 1-9 excluding 5) is odd or even when the background behind the number is red and whether a number (from 1-9 excluding 5) is higher or lower than five when the background is blue. The participant will go through fifteen total practice trials for each task type separately in which the participant will have feedback provided (feedback will either be correct, incorrect, or please respond faster. ) Each practice trial should take approximately two minutes. Next, the participant will have to practice each task individually without feedback for a total of 20 trials a piece totaling approximately one minute per task. The participant will then practice both tasks while they are randomly switched with feedback for a total of forty trials totaling approximately six minutes in time. After the participant has completed all practice runs, they will go through 160 trials of task-switching with no feedback. Each stimulus will appear on screen for 2500 milliseconds and an inter-stimulus

11 interval of 1000 milliseconds in which there will be a fixation cross in place of a stimulus. Figure 1 classic switch-cost example Affective faces task-switch: The practice runs and setup of this paradigm will be the same as the previous task-switch paradigm, but different stimuli and correct responses. The participant will view one set of neutral faces first as a cue to indicate the hair color of the face, and then the participant will view one set of fearful faces, meaning they will have to indicate the gender of the presented face. This block of trials should take a combined time of approximately four minutes. The faces will come from a standard set (Ekman & Frieson, 1976). There will be six male faces and six female faces each

12 with three different expressions (neutral, low magnitude fearful, and high magnitude fearful). After the two practice runs have ended, the participant will have to complete a run in which they will have to practice naming hair color and gender in separate runs with no feedback provided. This block will run for 20 trials a piece and will take a combined time of approximately six minutes. The next block will have the participant practice a randomly-compiled selection of faces with feedback provided after each response. This block should take approximately six minutes and will consist of 40 total trials. The participant will then run through 160 trials of randomly compiled faces with no feedback which will take approximately ten more minutes. Figure 2 affective switch-cost example

13 Analysis To examine condition effects in the affective task switch (ie. Fear vs Neutral cues), repeated measures ANOVA and ANCOVA will be conducted with switch cost in both conditions as DV and I-D and boldness as either separate IVs or covariates. As with analyses for the classic task switch, follow-up correlational tests will be used to assess for directionality of effects. To validate the affective task-switch paradigm, we first used a 3-way ANOVA with reaction time as the independent variable and switch type and affective content as covariates. We also conducted a paired sample T-test for switch vs. repeat trial reaction times to see whether or not the task presented significant reaction time differences between trial type. Our analysis also included a split-half analysis to test internal validity of the affective task-switch paradigm. We tested odd vs. even switch and repeat trials against one another. We also used correlation analyses to compare the switch cost in the affective switch-cost task to the switch cost in the classic switch-cost task. Switch-cost was also calculated in both tasks using accuracy in a pairedsample t-test. Results The two-way ANOVA for valence and switch-type revealed a significant main effect for valence (N=15, F=6.758, sig=.0.021), and a significant main effect for switch-type (N=15, F=19.789, sig=.001). The two way ANOVA also showed no significant interaction between valence and switch-type (N=15, F= 0.757, sig= 0.399). A paired samples t-test for switch vs. repeat trials in the affect switch-cost task revealed a significant difference in reaction time for switch vs. repeat trials (N=15, t= , sig<.001). A paired sample t-test also showed no significant difference between odd switch and even switch trials (N=15, t= 1.178, sig = 0.258),

14 nor did it show a significant difference for even repeat vs even switch trials (N=15, t=-1.027, sig=0.322). The classic switch-cost task showed significant differences between switch vs repeat trial reaction times as well (N=15, t=-6.731, sig<.001). Figure 3 valence by switch-type interaction

15 Figure 4 affective repeat vs switch RT Figure 5 affective fear vs neutral RT

16 Figure 6 classic repeat vs switch RT Conclusion The 2-way ANOVA between valence and switch-type suggests that switch-type and valence are the main influences on reaction time differences in the affective switch-cost task, with switch-type being a greater influence than valence. The significant main effect of valence suggests that this task is tapping into more than just executive function; this suggests that the affective content of the pictures also has an impact on reaction time differences of the participants. Since the valence by switch-type interaction is not significant, we can assume that reaction time does not depend on fearful/neutral face combinations with switch vs repeat trials. The paired samples t-test for the affective task also shows us that there is a significant difference between switch vs repeat trials, meaning that participants have to devote more attention to switch trials vs repeat trials. The same can be said about the classic switch-cost task, since there is also a

17 significant difference between switch and repeat trials. The paired samples t-tests performed on the odd vs even trials for the affective task prove that the test is also reliable since there is no significant difference between odd and even trials. Discussion In this study we have seen that it is possible to create a switch-cost task using affective cues, rather than classic neutral cues. We have also seen that this type of task taps into some other processes other than executive function. This bodes well for future projects involving individual difference characteristics. Since valence does have an effect on performance, boldness should also correlate with performance, since boldness does have an interpersonal dimension. Disinhibition, on the other hand, should influence performance on both tasks since this dimension has strong connections with executive function. Once we can make these connections to both the affective and classic switch-cost tasks, we can begin to assume connections between these individual difference dimensions and an individual s adaptive flexibility. The current study was not able to look at these individual differences, because the participant sample size was too small to see any significant correlations with individual difference characteristics. When more time can be allotted for recruitment, a larger sample size can be used and we should be able to see these effects. In the future we will also counterbalance in the affective switch-cost task. We will use fearful faces for cueing background determination and gender determination. We will do the same with neutral face; we will use the neutral faces to cue both background recognition and gender determination. This way we can know that valence is truly the causing reaction time difference and it isn t just the difference in difficulty between

18 determining background color and determining gender.

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